Tom is a senior fellow at NORC and directs NORC’s Center for the Study of Politics & Society. He is also co-founder of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), former Secretary General of the ISSP, and currently co-chairing the ISSP Methodology Committee. He is frequently consulted and quoted by the news media on such diverse topics as American sexual behavior, intergroup relations, and confidence in institutions, happiness, religion, guns, and voter behavior.

Tom is a prolific writer, analyzing and publishing the results of his studies in peer-reviewed journals and NORC-published reports aimed at students, scholars, and policy makers. He serves as a referee for many peer-reviewed journals, including American Journal of Sociology, Health Affairs, and Demography, and he is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Smith was editor-in-chief of Public Opinion Quarterly from 2012 to 2016.

Tom has also received numerous awards, including the AAPOR Innovators Award (2000, 2003); the AAPOR Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement (2002), Eastern Sociological Society Award for Distinguished Contributions to Sociology (2003), the ICPSR Warren E. Miller Award for Meritorious Service to the Social Sciences (2011), the AAPOR Book Award (2013), and the Harry W. O’Neill Outstanding Achievement Award to General Social Survey from New York Chapter of AAPOR (2019). He also was the first recipient of NORC’s Norman Bradburn Career Achievement Award, established in 2015 to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to the field of social science research or methodology.